City of Calgary Releases 2026 Olympic Games Bid Engagement Toolkit
The City of Calgary is providing resources and opportunities for Calgarians to engage with and provide feedback to City Council regarding a potential bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. To facilitate this engagement, the City released the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Bid Engagement Toolkit. The purpose of the Engagement Toolkit is to inform the public about the bid process, seek public input, and identify issues, concerns and opportunities of a potential bid.
Hosting the Games could have very large social, cultural and environmental implications for the nonprofit sector and Calgary’s community, so it is important for nonprofits to be informed and have their say in this decision.
The Engagement Toolkit provides a comprehensive analysis of the opportunities and risks of hosting the 2026 Olympic Games. Five topics of conversation were identified from the City’s 2018 Citizen Perspectives Survey to help guide the engagement, including:
Community (e.g. affordability, accessibility, arts and culture, volunteerism)
Venues/facilities (e.g. what would be updated or built to host the Games)
Environment (e.g. potential impacts on the urban and natural environments)
Economy (e.g. cost-benefit analysis of the draft hosting plan)
Cost (e.g. the projected costs of the Games and potential funding sources).
The City has provided several mechanisms in which to engage, including:
City Council’s online engagement platform
Several in-person open houses in Calgary (dates found within Engagement Toolkit)
The Engagement Toolkit, to start a conversation with friends, family and colleagues
CCVO encourages nonprofits to become informed, engage with the City, and vote in the upcoming plebiscite. Advanced voting takes place November 6 & 7, with the plebiscite taking place on November 13. The plebiscite is non-binding, but will be used to inform City Council’s decision.